Last Friday, Leo Blume from Stralsund won the main prize of €1,500 at this year's Federal Competition for Artificial Intelligence (BWKI) with her project "DEversAI." The 17-year-old student wants to use her original approach to explain the behavior of language models by creating texts not only forwards but also backwards. Her goal: to open up the much-criticized AI black box, make its processes more transparent, and finally understand them. In addition to the unusual approach, the jury was impressed by the student's accompanying app, which provides rare insights into language models. In addition to the cash prize, Leo Blume will receive an internship at the robotics and automation company FANUC.
Ten teams of students competed in the final of the seventh BWKI on November 14 to present their projects on medicine, everyday life, culture, and basic research. For the first time, the final took place at the Museum of Communication in Frankfurt am Main – a museum that combines the history of communication with tomorrow's technologies. This is in keeping with the fact that in 2025, the museum's focus is on “Artificial Intelligence and Communication”.
Simon Ma from Hanover was honored with the special "AI for Good" award for his "CHAD CTP" project. The 18-year-old student received prize money of €1,000. His AI model evaluates CT data more efficiently, thereby speeding up stroke diagnosis. His goal is to halve the number of scans required, thereby minimizing radiation exposure for patients while improving medical flexibility.
The special prize "No risk, no fun!", worth €750, was awarded to Peter Fuchs, also from Hanover, for his project "Glucodastra." With a self-developed finger sensor and AI model, the blood sugar level can be determined without a prick and read directly on the display. The pain-free measurement also avoids unnecessary medical waste. For his project, the 17-year-old collected medical data in his environment as a starting point to help people with diabetes in the future with more data.
The BWKI is aimed at secondary school students who develop their own AI projects, either alone or in teams of up to four people, and thus make a positive contribution to people and the environment. After registering in spring 2025, the participants had around six months to implement their ideas. Ten teams qualified for the final in Frankfurt am Main and presented their projects to a jury from the fields of science, business, and education.
"Excellent research and excellent promotion of young talent are inseparable. The Federal Artificial Intelligence Competition shows how students are already shaping our common future today with curiosity, creativity, and responsibility," says Professor Dr. Dr. h.c. (Dōshisha) Karla Pollmann, the president of the University of Tübingen.
In addition to the Carl Zeiss Foundation as the main sponsor, the competition is supported by the companies FANUC, Festo, Droemer Knaur, and Funduino. Cooperation partners are the Stuttgart Media University (HdM), IT4Kids, and the Museum for Communication in Frankfurt am Main.
